Global ocean forecasting and scientific big data

Global ocean forecasting is one of the future priorities of marine forecasting. This is closely related to the implementation of marine strategy, maintenance of maritime rights, and development of deep sea resources, which are in increasing demand for marine activities across the global ocean. The prominent characteristic of global ocean forecasting is the generation and use of vast amounts of data, which fully reflects the basic characteristics of big data. In this paper, starting from the origin, concept and nature of big data, we define the basic theory of global ocean forecasting. We illustrate big data from observation and models in global ocean forecasting from three aspects, data assimilation, model data, and product distribution. Finally, we discuss key scientific issues in global ocean forecasting and scientific big data in the context of future challenges.